History and Mission

Based in Los Angeles, Jack Jones Literary Arts publicizes bold, forward-thinking literature that privileges narratives told by black women and women of color. The Los Angeles Times calls Kima Jones "an important new voice on the national stage." The New York Times says, “Kima Jones is taking the publishing industry by storm.”

Welcome to Jack Jones Literary Arts, a multifaceted book publicity company. Founded in March 2015, Jack Jones Literary Arts's mission is to provide publicity services and support for writers who are unafraid. We work diligently to announce book projects to audiences who seek literary art that is unorthodox, underappreciated, and unparalleled.

Kima Jones, Founder

Kima Jones has received fellowships from PEN America West Emerging Voices, Kimbilio Fiction, Yaddo, and the MacDowell Colony. She was named on the inaugural Bitch 50 list in 2017 as a "shape-shifter who pushed pop culture to be more representative, inspiring, and meaningful for communities who are typically ignored by mainstream media." The Los Angeles Times called Kima "2018's literary breakthrough" and "an important new voice on the national stage." She has been published at GQ, Guernica, Poets and Writers, NPR and McSWeeney's and in the anthologies Unruly Bodies, a pop-up magazine by Roxane Gay for Medium and the New York Times Best Seller, The Fire this Time, edited by Jesmyn Ward. Her short story "Nine" received notable mention in Best American Science Fiction 2015, and her hybrid poem "Homegoing AD" appears in Best American Nonrequired Reading 2017. She serves as an advisory board member forthe Rumpus, theAnisfield-Wolf Fellowship, the Beverly Rogers, Carol C. Carter Black Mountain Institute and its flagship magazine, The Believer, and the Wordplay Literary Festival. Kima founded Jack Jones Literary Arts in March 2015 and works as lead strategist on all publicity campaigns and is especially proud of her work on the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry winner, Olio, by Tyehimba Jess; the 2017 PEN America Robert W. Bingham Emerging Fiction Prize winner, Insurrections, by Rion Amilcar Scott; the 2017 Midland Authors Award winner in Adult Fiction, Know the Mother, by Desiree Cooper; and May-lee Chai’s Useful Phrases for Immigrants. Kima divides her time between Los Angeles and New York. She writes poetry and prose.

Photo credit: Vanessa Acosta

Allison N. Conner, Speakers Bureau Manager

Allison Noelle Conner's work has appeared in Bitch, Full Stop, Entropy, Jacket2, and elsewhere. Her essay on the short film The Kitchen by Alile Sharon Larkin and the fiction of Gayl Jones appears in the anthology Rockhaven: A History of Interiors. She serves as a reviews editor at Full Stop magazine. She enjoys exploring ways in which literature and publishing can realign our notions of community, activation, resistance, and healing. She is a graduate of the creative writing MFA program at CalArts. Born in Ft. Lauderdale, Allison now lives in Los Angeles. Allison joined Jack Jones Literary Arts in 2017 where she trained as a junior publicist and built out the framework for the speakers bureau. Allison is particularly proud of her publicity work on Leesa Cross-Smith's Whiskey and Ribbons. In 2018, Allison was promoted to manager of the speakers bureau where she coordinates engagements for luminaries such as Terese Mailhot, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Marilyn Chin, and John Keene.

Annie Furuyama, Special Programs Coordinator

Annie Furuyama previously served as the editor-in-chief of Bluestockings Magazine. She is a recent graduate of Brown University, where she worked at the Women’s Center and Center for Students of Color. Annie is a lifelong resident of Los Angeles and produced the short film God Willing (forthcoming). In 2019, Annie became the Special Programs Coordinator and organizes the Jack Jones Literary Arts writing retreat, as well as supporting their dynamic and innovative arts programming.

Frank Johnson, Programs Assistant

Frank Johnson is a poet, essayist, and visual artist born and raised in East Las Vegas. His work draws primarily from the literary traditions of hip-hop and the dopest facets of its culture, as well as the the broader American cultural canon. He earned his MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2019. His work has been featured in Believer, Los Angeles Review of Books, the Shallow Ends, the Rumpus, and at the Las Vegas Film Festival. Frank works with Annie on our retreat and conference programming.